On Friday, I have the distinct pleasure of meeting with a Federal Reserve official from the Atlanta branch.

This is for the purpose of interviewing small busines to ascertain how Fed Policies may be affecting the performance of small business. It is described as an informal survey and any anecdotal information from such surveys will help the FED develop more specific research to identify areas that may need to be altered to facilitate a more favorable environment for small business.

I am formulating some topics for interview/ass chewing and thought I would seek some comments from the Tickerforum Elite.

What would you tell the Fed if you could meet face to face?

Good luck Snooze and a 'Well done' in advance.

Sorry but my comments would at least get you thrown out if not arrested. You are better on your own than having me contribute.

Reporting back on the meeting with the Fed. Here are the high spots:

The meeting went well. The discussion quickly went from what we were seeing on a specific individual business level to a broader discussion of the underlying causes of our problems instead of focusing on the symptoms we were experiencing. This was done at my urging...not his.

I presented him with a copy of Karl's Ticker, "The Truth about Budgets, For Both Left and Right" and used this to emphasize that there is no painless route for fixing our problem. We either have to take our medicine in a controlled manner or we will die in a fit of frenzy.

I argued strongly for eliminating the QE approach and returning to rewarding capital formation with a real rate of return. He defended the QE as necessary to protect the financial system and we batted that ball back and forth until we agreed to recognize each other's vested interest in our respective arguments.

I gave him a copy of Kucinich's bill HR6550 that proposes eliminating the Fed and folding it into the Treasury...He had no idea this existed...and I presented him with the raw materials parity pricing concept used to help us recover from GD 1. He had never heard of this as well.

He was very cordial and I suspect his mission is more public relations oriented to get a pulse on the business community in order to deflect the anger they know is brewing. He was very sympathetic to current percptions of the Fed and more than once defended them as not a part of the banker elite but rather the guardians of the finance system. I had to choke down a little vile on that one to keep the conversation civil and constructive.

I definitely detected some tension over issues(not specified) between Atlanta and New York. This may be an acknowledgement that other ditricts do not agree with the save WS over Mainstreet approach and this could be leading to dissension. I think they see some negative repurcusions coming and therefore this public relations campaign may be useful to soften public anger.


It did my soul good to have my say and whether or not it goes anywhere; we will see. Hopefully; Karl's written messge will make it to Lockhart's desk via my efforts.